We have had it all already, Racism, police disputes, now we got the story of two cocaine cases in German basketball.
Last Friday, the information about two US born players of the German third division team Herten was published. Of course, the news was headlined about a doping case in German basketball. Doping is a huge story in Germany, especially in cycling. But in Basketball, Doping is rather uncommon. So it was no surprise to me that the whole thing was not about any kind of physical abilities developing substances but Cocaine.
The two American born players, Kasey Ulin (former Dickinson State NAIA standout) and Chris Bond (Central Washington) got charged to have taken Cocaine before a league game this season. Both players have of course been fired immediately. The case shocked the Herten Basketball community heavily as both players were very popular, especially Ulin.
Ulin was the beloved player of the kids in Herten and all the fans and officials could not believe what happened. Especially as it was a known fact that Ulin had already some alcohol problems before, this story now completely destroyed him. For the managers of the team, it was a shock too. They could not imagine that they had to go for drug test when they sign a new player. Now this will be done in the future to avoid such cases.
What will happen to the team is not sure yet, the league has to discuss this issue and come up with an official judgement in the next days.